Ways to kick off your blogger outreach campaign with success

Tiffany Cunningham

In the past five to 10 years, blogs and blogging have become an important part of our online and news culture. 

Side note: If you haven’t heard of a blog or haven’t read one, then there must be limited access to the Internet in your area or you prefer traditional methods of communication (which are great, too!). 

That being said, practically everyone reads blogs now, whether they’ve glimpsed at a few, follow five or 50 or have created their own blog – the term and action of blogging is very known and used in our culture. 

Blogs are now streamlining as one of the most effective ways to get your company or

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product recognized among millions of readers around the world. It’s mind-boggling to think that in 1999 there were only 23 blogs on the Internet, according to a list compiled by Jesse James Garrett. In 2012, there were an estimated 31 million bloggers in the U.S., and it’s now become a very successful profession for many people. 

Despite it being one of the oldest forms of social media, connecting with influential bloggers is still a key element of generating interest for your client’s campaign. It sounds easy to build a connection with bloggers, but they have their own set of standards and some don’t like to be contacted by outside sources. It takes a little time and research to find out how to best approach getting your story to the blogger without having an “X” marked on your email address for the rest of eternity by the blogger. 

Here are a few helpful tips for engaging bloggers in your campaigns: 

1. Even though you may not be in college anymore, you still have to do your homework: Bloggers will make sure to write you back a lovely email about how your product or news story is unrelated to their interests they’ve posted on their blogs. So, build a list of blogger prospects, even make side notes about what they’ve covered. It very time-consuming, but worth the investment when you have the perfect story to pitch. 
2. Tailor your content: You may have a great story, but make sure it correlates with their personal interests. Sometimes, there will be no obvious link to your campaign or strategy, but if you genuinely think they look like a good match just say so, it will come across genuine in your email. Bloggers are normal people and appreciate honesty. Even if they let you know they’ve passed on posting it, you at least gave them a compliment and allowed for more growth in getting to know what they like to write about. 
3. Be part of the “blogosphere”: Not only should you follow that blogger and see what they write about, but show your personality when you email or speak with them. Also, even if you don’t know what to blog about yet, create your own blog and see what its like to create your own ideas and see how many people you can reach with your posts. It’s OK if you know blogging isn’t your thing, but be supportive of those that you want writing about your stories you’ve shared. 
4. Be interesting: Back to showing your personality – give bloggers ideas that inspire them to create their own new ideas and run with what you send them. That’s one of the main reasons bloggers get sent free samples. They’re intrigued to write about their own experiences and once they use their five senses with a product, they are more compelled to write about it and usually produce interesting thought-provoking content. 
5. Keep trying: You may not get a blogger’s attention easily. Some have their own rules about being paid before they’ll write about a product or service and others simply just want their own content to be read without outside influencers giving them information. The good thing is though, like I said above, there are more than 30 million bloggers in America alone. So, get back out there and start searching – you’ll find the perfect blogger eventually!